Bodies on the line for cyclists’ safety
Advocates hit streets to create People Protected Bike Lane
By Michael Cabanatuan
On a dark December night, with a chilly breeze blowing from the west, a dozen bicyclists parked their rides on the sidewalks of Market Street at Octavia Street, pulled bright-yellow T-shirts over their work apparel and grabbed glow sticks and signs.
Then they wandered into the street, placing themselves in a line between evening commute traffic and a steady stream of cyclists pedaling home in a bike lane separated by a slender white, painted stripe.
“Join us,” they yelled, as portable speakers boomed “The Safety Dance,” a 1983 pop hit. “Protect the bike lanes.” The group quickly grew to about 70 people.
This was the latest rendition of People Protected Bike Lane, an amalgam of performance art, political protest, street party and community organizing event that was born in San Francisco and has quickly spread to cities across the country and around the world. The goal is to get local governments moving on building barriers to separate bike lanes from vehicle traffic on some of the city’s most dangerous streets.
“What you see with People Protected Bike Lane is folks who care so passionately about bicyclists dying or getting injured on our streets that they are willing to literally put their bodies in between people driving too fast and people riding their bikes,” said Brian Wiedenmeier, executive director of the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition.
They seem to be getting their message across.
A day after the Dec. 4 event, Ed Reiskin, the Municipal Transportation Agency’s transportation director, announced that a compromise had been reached between the agency and
“What you see with People Protected Bike Lane is folks who care so passionately about bicyclists dying or getting injured on our streets that they are willing to literally put their bodies in between people driving too fast and people riding their bikes.” Brian Wiedenmeier, executive director, San Francisco Bicycle Coalition
the Fire Department for construction of a protected bike lane on upper Market Street that would begin early this year. It had been stalled since it was approved by the agency in May by Fire Department concerns over the ability of ladder trucks to maneuver in the area.
Similarly, after a pair of People Protected Bike Lane appearances on busy Valencia Street last spring, the Board of Supervisors, meeting as the San Francisco County Transportation Authority board, approved funding for a study of protected bike lanes on the street.
“It does work,” said Maureen Persico, 53, an avid bicyclist, San Francisco mother and grocery store management trainee who came up with the idea for People Protected Bike Lane. “Whoever makes the loudest noise gets the attention. When we get hit by a car, we’re often alone and may not even report it. We’re isolated, but this brings us together.”
Persico said she thought of the idea last spring, considering it an updated version of Hands Across America, a 1986 event in which 6.5 million people held hands in a line across the country to combat hunger and homelessness.
“I was thinking of the symbolism of us taking care of ourselves,” she said. “We cannot rely on our national government nor can we rely on our local government.”
The people behind People Protected Bike Lane are an informal group that determines its targets on an as-needed basis, and doesn’t maintain a list or schedule. However, their next event is likely to pop up along the Embarcadero, which Persico regards as a dangerous mess for cyclists.
Ben Jose, an MTA spokesman, said the agency agrees with the need for protected lanes and other bike-safety improvements, but said “crucial streetscape transformations take time.”
In 2010, he said, protected bike lanes were nonexistent in San Francisco. The city now has 16 miles of them integrated into a bike-lane network that covers 447 miles.
“We definitely appreciate and hear the advocacy and concern this group is raising,” he said. “We’re always looking for opportunities to do more.”
Persico was also moved to act, she said, by her 15-year-old son, who feels unsafe riding his bike on city streets. Using social media, she bounced her idea off Matt Brezina, another San Francisco bike advocate, and the People Protected Bike Lane idea was born. It was inaugurated during the morning commute on Valencia Street in May.
“When she told me the concept, I thought it was brilliant,” Brezina said. “It has become a powerful tool to transform our streets.”
Since then, the People Protected Bike Lane concept has spread into a bit of an international movement. Events have been held in New York, where 300 people lined streets in Manhattan, Boston, Boise, Dublin and Berlin. And there have been four more San Francisco events.
What makes the concept work, Persico said, is that anyone can participate, even for 10 or 15 minutes — on their ride home from work or school or en route to the grocery store. In addition to veteran bike activists, the December event at Market and Octavia streets drew homewardbound commuters, families and politicians, including state Sen. Scott Wiener and Supervisor Jeff Sheehy, who said his first job was as a bicycle messenger.
“So I know how important it is to have safe places to bike,” Sheehy said. “We need an integrated system of protected bike lanes.”
David Gouldin, 36, a software developer who lives in Hayes Valley, was also part of the event. He said he often bikes with his children, Eden, 3, and Alana, 1, tagging along in a trailer. They’ve had some close calls, he said, with ride-hailing cars pulling over to disgorge passengers in front of them, and drivers using the green-painted bike lane as a traffic lane.
“We came here tonight,” he said, “because separating bikes and cars is the safest way to handle traffic.”
Wiedenmeier agrees, and said he expects the People Protected Bike Lane movement to keep rolling, in tandem with a clandestine group, the San Francisco Municipal Transformation Agency, which surreptitiously installs unsanctioned posts, barricades and markers overnight where it believes safety improvements are needed. The city typically is quick to remove them.
“As long as people are being hit and injured on the streets, there will be a need for urgent action to call on the city to make the streets safer more quickly,” Wiedenmeier said. “Until biking is safe and pleasant all over the city of San Francisco, I think people will be willing to get out there and put their bodies on the line to get quality improvements quickly.”
“I know how important it is to have safe places to bike. We need an integrated system of protected bike lanes.” Jeff Sheehy, San Francisco supervisor